Today's Paper

Residents, farmers oppose road across tanks

A group of local residents and farmers attempted to stall the work on laying a by-pass road between Thuvakudi and Panchapur as part of the development of the Tiruchi-Karaikudi National Highway in protest against the road being laid across irrigation tanks in K.Sathanur, here on Friday.

The by-pass is part of a semi-ring road that is to come up around the city connecting the Tiruchi-Thanjavur, the Tiruchi-Karaikudi, the Tiruchi-Madurai and Tiruchi-Karur national highways under different highways development projects taken up by the National Highways Authority of India.

The work on the by-pass road from Thuvakudi was suspended last year after the State Public Works Department withdrew a no-objection certificate given to the NHAI for laying the road across irrigation tanks. Subsequently, based on a NHAI petition, the Madras High Court had granted an injunction against the PWD order. The NHAI had resumed the work recently.

On Friday, a group of farmers from the area submitted a petition to the Collector Jayashree Muralidharan seeking a direction to stop the work as it would affect the irrigation sources and livelihood of farmers.

Later in the evening, the farmers went to the K.Sathanur Periya Eri and attempted to stop the work being carried out there by the NHAI. Police and revenue officials intervened and pacified the agitators. M.Palanisamy, president, Pudu Kattalai Vaical Vivasayigal Sangam, contended that the road if laid across the tank would adversely affect the livelihood of thousands of farmers and the work should not continue pending the disposal of the case before the court.